Galway‘s ambitions are limited
Tipperary’s instructions from Peter Creedon were to flood their defence when Galway had possession and one of their better forwards, Peter Acheson, took up permanent position as a sweeper in front of his full-back line.
We know the template all too well at this stage of the evolution of our game. Galway, not for the first time, found the massed defence practically impossible to figure out. Their confidence is still extremely fragile after the hammering by Mayo and they were reduced to passing the ball laterally for long periods, before the seemingly obligatory turnover.
After the first quarter, the scoreboard reflected the standard of fare on offer, and read 0-1 to 0-1.
Brian Fox’s excellent score was the only shaft of light to appear in that period. Indeed, the shouts and moans of exasperation and frustration from home fans at what was unfolding were audible throughout the stand.
Tipperary improved in the second quarter and hit a few good scores on the break, most notably from Conor Sweeney and one from Hugh Coghlan.
Galway’s best efforts came from the hard-working Seán Armstrong who hit two fine points from distance, to see the home side lead by 0-6 to 0-5 at half time.
Whatever Alan Mulholland said at half-time to his charges had the desired outcome and Galway were more purposeful and direct in the third quarter.
Driven on by midfielder Paul Conroy, who was the most impressive player on the field, along with the strong running of centre-back Gary O’Donnell and Gary Sice, they tore into the Tipp defence. A flurry of scores followed and a fortuitous, but well-taken goal by Corofin’s Michael Farragher saw Galway lead by 1-9 to 0-6 and they looked well in control when Michael Meehan landed a very good effort to put them nine to the good.
However, to Tipp’s credit, they never gave up and they kept the tie alive until the finish with some good scores by substitute Bernard O’Brien and three frees from Sweeney to hit 0-5 without reply to underline Galway’s lack of a ruthless streak. Tipp also had a goal chance or two, and the sizeable home crowd were getting very twitchy by the time Kerry’s Pádraig O’ Sullivan blew up.
While it was a poor quality game, the Galway players I spoke to afterwards did not care one iota about that. They were just happy and relieved to have claimed the team’s first win in the qualifiers in nine years. After seven defeats on the trot in the qualifiers, the last four by a single point, a win was all that really mattered to them. At least they are in the bowl for the Round Two draw this morning and with teams like Waterford, Roscommon and Clare, in with them, the belief is that if they get another kind draw, they can extend their championship run by a few weeks.
Their prospects are no higher than that.
